We recently connected with Jack Dalton and have shared our conversation below.

Jack, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my children’s book, Kawan the Orangutan, Lost in the Rainforest. I was inspired by the special relationship baby orangutans share with their mothers, something I also share with my mother. Growing up, my mom was my homeschool teacher and a lot of the time we spent together was reading or writing, so I grew up with a love for these things. I wanted to combine all these things, leading me to write this book. For every copy sold or donated, a tree is planted in the rainforest critical to orangutan survival. Now over 3,000 trees have been planted in Indonesia and I couldn’t be more proud. A large part of the reason why I wrote this book, was to spread awareness of orangutans to kids to get them to fall in love like I did, contributing to my work as an animal activist.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Jack Dalton, I go by the name Kid Conservationist, and I am a fourteen-year-old animal activist, author, public speaker, educational YouTuber, and fundraiser from New Hampshire. My goal is to get orangutans off the endangered species list through the power of education and inspiration, as well as protect our world and all of its inhabitants. When I was eight, I looked into the eyes of one very special orangutan, who I just fell in love with. After learning about palm oil and deforestation, and the effect that human actions, my actions, were having on the critically endangered orangutans, I knew I had to do something about it. I am now the Youth Ambassador for four international organizations working to protect our planet and educate people of all ages about what they can do to help animals and the environment. I give presentations at schools, zoos and museums throughout the world, raise funds for education, animal rehabilitation and restoring the rainforest, sell my children’s book, and spread awareness of environmental issues on my Kid Conservationist YouTube channel. To date, I have raised over $20,000, I have sold over 3,000 books, and I have over 1.25 million views on my YouTube channel. What makes my project unique is that I am a youth taking action to encourage other youth, and people of all ages to take action. I want people to know that anyone can make a difference and that we all have the power to spread awareness and create difinitive change for our world, and those around us.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

As a YouTube creator, the best source of new subscribers and viewers have come from a video short of animals in the wild. Mostly in the the past I focused on longer videos, but those can lose viewers over the duration, and this one short tripled my followers. Now, I make sure to keep my videos as short and to the point as possible, in order to keep people’s attention and make the most out of the time that people are engaged with my content so I can maximize the impact of the video.

Have you ever had to pivot?

After about a year of giving presentations and interviewing experts in person, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. That meant that my conservation trip to Indonesia was canceled, along with in-person expert interviews, and key presentations. What could have been a stop to my work as a ten-year-old, I instead adapted to this situation by using the new Zoom platform, I was able to connect with schools and organizations world-wide and gained a global audience. Also, the need for educational resources rose, which led to an increase in viewership on my YouTube channel. For example, I do book readings about environmental and animal issues, which are used as educational resources by parents and educators alike.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kidconservationist.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/kidconservationist
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/kidconservationist
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@kidconservationist

Image Credits

All Image Credits: Jack Dalton & Timothy Dalton